Computing is hard, and things like the Surface Dial are designed to make it easier. That’s the message I took away from the device’s unveiling and why I knew I had to pen a Surface Dial review eventually.Read More

All the digital games that you can download, that’s what video game publisher Electronic Arts is promising when it attempts to lure users into its EA Access subscription service. I’ve heard it described casually as Netflix for video games, but too many things get that description for it to be of any use, I think. Either a video plays or it doesn’t. Video games are more complicated than that. With EA Access on Xbox One, you get to play dozens of games without buying them separately. I went into it thinking that this was the service’s main appeal.Read More

Even after the decades that have passed, hearing someone scream “It’s morphing time” still feels special. The Power Rangers series that aired in the 1990s receives a lot of credit for being a cultural icon. It was, but describing it as that leaves so much nuance out. To a generation of kids that didn’t have much else to watch and didn’t have parents to let them in after school, the Power Rangers were a morality play. Here were five teenagers from a nowhere town that looked like you and talked like you. They got good grades and battled monsters. Here was this world that was fair, just and understandingRead More

Speaking from personal experience, now is an awkward time to be an African American. In my lifetime, race shed its 1,000-pound gorilla suit. It’s a slow stalking predator these days, an always-present, but seldom talked about reality. For reasons related to white houses and riots, it’s back at the forefront and ripe for exploration in culture. Take Get Out for instance.Read More

A movie set in the same magical world as Harry Potter, but without Harry Potter himself. If you’d have asked me whether that was a good idea five years ago, I would have said it was crazy. Actually, I would have asked, “are you nuts?” Then I’d have remembered the disaster that was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and remembered anything is possible when you’re dealing with Warner Brothers Pictures. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, arrived at movies theaters this week. I’d be lying if I said that this movie wasn’t my must-see motion picture of the year.Read More

Heroes are masters of the impossible. They can go anywhere and do anything. If that’s the definition of a super hero in its purest form, than Marvel Studios itself may very well have transcended our existence. Every year they’ve delivered movies that capture the imagination and rake in more ticket sales than the films before it. That they risked their sterling reputation for Doctor Strange honestly blows my mind.Read More

Long on promises and short on delivery, I’ve looked on with amazement for years as Microsoft failed to deliver on PC gaming initiatives and getting its product groups to work together. No offense to the hard working people in Redmond, but the company’s failure in PC gaming are hard to forget. First there was Games for Windows Live, then there was the second coming of Games for Windows Live. Then Microsoft rolled out Xbox Live achievements to casual games in Windows 8. Early in the spring, the company mentioned that it had another plan to alter its fortunes in PC gaming. It’s called the initiative Xbox Play Anywhere.Read More

The world of technology is populated by black boxes and slick brushed metal. One of the few exceptions to this rule are video game consoles. Meant to disappear into your setup, they’re almost always black and rather dull looking. With everyone buying all the same things, it’s hard to feel like an individual, like you purchased something cool and made it your own. Xbox Design Lab controllers are the answer to what ails us. At the website turned digital boutique, you can customize the current version of the Xbox Wireless Controller.Read More

“Another year gone.” That’s how Professor Albus Dumbledore began the last scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. A year has passed since Microsoft introduced yet another iteration of Groove Music, the music service that it’s offered under no less than three different brand names in the last ten years. Those prior names include Zune. Perhaps it’s fate but this October marks 10 years since Microsoft first introduced Zune.Read More

Every person that invests their money in technology holds a secret shame. No matter what we tell you, never believe that we don’t want to upgrade to the latest and greatest devices. If there’s a new iPhone with more storage and a better camera, we wish we had it. If there’s a new Xbox One with tweaked performance and a better design, you better believe we’ll buy it. I told everyone I wouldn’t be buying Microsoft’s Xbox One S.Read More

I’d like to thank that my stance on the act of purchasing a game hasn’t changed. Buying a piece of entertainment as expensive as a video game takes daring. What if the game is terrible? What if you don’t like it? Heavy gamers are all into buying every new title that comes along. The industry sometimes forgets that most people purchase a few games in a year, not every major release that makes it to store shelves. It’s for that reason that I worried about Ubisoft’s The Division. Read More

When some hot piece of new technology arrives, everyone is quick to either sing its praises or tear it down. That’s the nature of technology and culture. If we aren’t collectively enhancing its mythos, we’re collective pointing out its flaws. Sometimes we do both at the same time. By the time we get a device like the Surface Pro 4, it’s usually the praise that dominates the landscape.Read More